Monday, April 28, 2014

Sellsword Special: Non-disclosure agreements

In my day job, I've been working under NDAs for nearly 10 years.
The main reason for NDAs in my line of work is
outsourcing/subcontracting/partnerships between companies. The client
companies, which may be in IT, healthcare, telecommunications,
military technology, and many other fields, outsource some functions
to other companies so they can better focus on their core
competencies.

With most customers, I don't have to sign a separate NDA because
the company-level agreement already covers everything. Some
customers, however, have much stricter policies, and they may require
not only an NDA but also a background check.

In the RPG industry, it's also common to outsource work to
freelancers. The work often involves confidential information, such
as details about future products before the products have been
released or even announced. This article discusses NDA both within
and outside the RPG industry.

What is a non-disclosure agreement?

In short, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal document
that outlines the rules for information exchange between two or more
parties. Generally the purpose is to keep confidential information
secret from third parties such as competitors or the general public.
The NDA usually outlines what information is considered confidential,
and may detail where and how the information may be used, with whom
it can be shared, how long it remains confidential, and so on. The
information protected by an NDA can be any information that is not
generally known.

Why are they needed?

The main purpose of NDAs is to prevent loss of profit (or other
damage) resulting from leaked confidential or proprietary
information. Such information can be, for example, trade secrets that
ensure a competitive edge against other companies in the same field.
It can also be information that would compromise the security of a
system or otherwise put the company in an awkward position, if
leaked.

An NDA ensures that all parties involved understand not only the
rules that they must follow when sharing information, but also the
consequences of breaking the agreement.

Consequences of non-compliance

In RPGSS, you may get disqualified if you break the rules of the
contest. After the first round (where a lot of people are DQ'd for
going over the word count), the most common reason for
disqualifications is talking about your entry during voting. It's sad
when that happens, but usually there are no hard feelings, and the
contestant may return the following year, wiser than ever.
However, when you're working under a real NDA, the consequences
may be much more severe.

Bad reputation & loss of
clients: If you cannot shut your mouth about the company's
secrets, they'll probably never hire you again. If the word gets
out, no-one else wants to hire you either.

Legal consequences: Depending on the nature of your
work, if the breach of the contract is particularly egregious, you
may face fines or even jail time.

NDAs in RPG freelancing

I have to admit I don't have much experience about freelancing and
NDAs in RPG freelancing quite yet, but I'll tell you what little I
know.

Smaller RPG publishers do not necessarily have a formal contract
to sign. Rather, the rules are implied: if you work for a publisher,
it is assumed that you don't share any information that would be
harmful for the publisher.

When I started working for a small RPG publisher, I asked about
their NDA, and told them that I'll gladly talk about their products
in my blog but wanted to know what would be OK to talk about and what
wouldn't. They answered that it's OK to talk about their
setting-neutral products, but the setting-specific products will have
a stricter NDA.

A bigger publisher I started working for had a short section about
confidentiality in the author contract, so when I signed the
contract, I also agreed to follow the terms and conditions. The legal
text in contracts like these is probably always on a rather general
level, but I guess the intent is clear: don't disclose any
information about the product that is not publicly known. If there is
anything beyond that you should know, the developer you are working
with will tell you.

I think the most important reasons for confidentiality in the RPG
business are:

Preventing competitors from stealing ideas or using
techniques, software, etc. that the company has spent resources on.

Keeping unannounced products secret, so as to allow the
marketing department to stay focused on products to be released in
the near future.

To avoid spoilers.

To avoid the company itself from getting into legal trouble.

When working under an NDA, err on the side of caution. When in
doubt, ask!

1 comment
:

I agree. There’s nothing wrong about asking the most knowledgeable person you know regarding this matter. Besides, it helps clarify all the confusion one might have in their mind. Most importantly, never sign anything, unless every detail is clear. And if a company does invoke a NDA, it's just best not to share your work with anyone that's not in the company, period.